Many companies use directional control valves in manufacturing, testing, and packaging facilities. In order to automate certain functions, directional control valves can be programmed to actuate upon one or more conditions being met. For example, in response to safety door being locked and/or a start button being pressed, a directional control valve incorporated into a servo-track writer may automatically actuate, thereby directing the servo-track writer to move a workpiece and/or component of a workpiece to a desired position. Many directional control valves can also be manually actuated via one or more manual activation mechanisms.